Keep America Beautiful Month- Granite Creek Park Cleanup

In October, our GEM Environmental team had the opportunity to give back to the community and work towards bettering the environment through a Park Clean-Up at Granite Creek! Early in the morning of October 9th, our team met up with Kelly Tolbert, Recreation Director of the Prescott Recreation Services, to clean up litter around Prescott’s Granite Creek Park for our October Service Project.   
  
Upon our arrival, Kelly gave us the tools we needed and maps of the surrounding areas. We split up into groups of two to conquer the trails around Granite Creek Park that led into other parts of the community. Armed with one trash bag holder, two metal trash grabbers, and a desire to improve our communal environment, we set off. Many people that we encountered on the trails asked who we were working with and why we were picking up trash, and we had the chance to share information about GEM and what we do!  
  
As with all of our service projects, every GEM team member was thrilled to work towards improving our community and creating exposure for our organization. Ellen Snyder, a GEM AmeriCorps State Member, stated, “I really enjoyed exploring Prescott and beautifying the area with the whole team. It was amazing to see how much litter we picked up and how great the areas looked afterward.” As always, the GEM team had a fun time working together and making a difference in our community. 
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